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captaincoffeegirl515 · 4 years

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I just saw the live-action Mulan movie, and in short, it sucked.

It’s not worth the money! Not worth the 37 dollars you’ll need to pay so that you can merely rent the movie. Don’t worry, I pirated it. I didn’t give Disney any money, and I’m writing this so you won’t have to as well.

To think, my mom was so excited about this film especially since we are Chinese and the animated Mulan film was one of her favourite Disney films. But throughout the film, we were disappointed again and again.

First of all, the directing, camera work, pacing, and editing was terrible. The pacing of the movie was all over the place. The fight scenes especially, were so erratic and badly put together. Either they’d have the scene move at a normal pace but would cut and change to a new angle or perspective multiple times until you can barely tell if there were any hits or what they were doing. Or they would do slow-mo and do a zoom-in on Mulan’s blank, stiff face.

They had Donnie Yen, a famous martial artist and actor, doing some incredible swordsmanship and martial arts in front of the soldiers but then they ruined it by constantly cutting away from him to some random blank-faced soldier. What wasted potential!

Did I mention the blank faces. Everyone looked so stiff during the movie, barely any proper acting done. This was especially obvious with the Witch, whose face barely seems to move. The most emotional I saw her was when she had teary eyes, but still, the rest of her face stayed smooth.

My biggest problem lay with the fact that they took the sexism of the animated Mulan movie and managed to crank it up to a thousand. The whole concept of chi/qi was wrong. For starters, real chi lies in everyone, and it does not give you superpowers or suddenly makes you a good fighter. But in the movie, apparently only men can use chi and gain superpowers, and that if a woman somehow had chi then she’s a witch and must be outcast or killed. And it made it seem like the only reason Mulan could keep up with the men or be better than them was because she had these superpowers. I honestly have no words to express my anger and disappointment at this.

I understand they removed Mushu in the live action since it was offensive to Chinese mythology. But replacing it with a phoenix based on Greek mythology?? That made no sense. And not only that, the CGI was terrible. Not only did it look obviously fake, my siblings and I all felt like the phoenix was made of paper. One of them joked that it was a kite. The coloring also reminded me of the bird in Wings of Time that I saw in Sentosa Singapore.

Btw, Chinese don’t have any concept of witches or witch hunts. Lord knows why Disney tried to put more Western concepts when they wanted to make an Asian movie.

Moving on to the characters and their chemistry. In short, there was none. Little to none actually. I don’t understand why Honghui was supposed to be her love interest. No chemistry and barely any meaningful interactions. They met with him insulting her and continuing to insult her throughout most of their scenes. The “love interest” also spent a lot of his time staring at Mulan like one of those creepy perverts that you try your best to ignore. Is this really the kind of lesson you want to teach kids?

And Ling? Yao? Chien-po? What happened to them? Their names were barely mentioned and their characterizations were so one-dimensional. There were not enough scenes building them up as proper characters, which made them easily forgettable. Because of this, we also had trouble telling all of the soldiers apart, and this includes Honghui and Cricket. Cricket was initially mistaken as Chien-po. There was even less time emphasizing their friendship with Mulan. I also didn’t understand why the need to add Cricket in the movie as another soldier. Disney still didn’t give him any proper growth or arc beyond that one shining moment with the arrow. I also didn’t understand why he suddenly decided to play dead at the end of the corridor fight. Another “dramatic moment” that fell flat.

Where do I begin with the Witch? Shan Yu was an incredible bad guy already. Why did they try to make his falcon human and have her as a witch? For the most part, it seemed like she was just there to drive down the movie’s point that women should be subjugated. She had the power to kill Bori Khan easily, but… chose not to because she thought he would help make her not an outcast?? And even when she changed sides, instead of idk killing Bori Khan when he tried to shoot Mulan, she just… flew… in front of… the arrow… and died. Wow.

What was Bori Khan’s revenge supposed to be anyways? For the most part, it looked like he was trying to slow-cook the Emperor. Like what was up with the random forges and the 2 inch pool of lava?? Were forges back then even hot enough to make lava and have it stay red hot the whole time even when it was in that pool?? Also, swords do NOT melt that fast.

Also, the part where Bori Khan was talking to the captured Emperor was so unintentionally funny. Like at the end of every sentence he would just suddenly make sparks with his weapon at the Emperor’s face. If it was a one-time thing, it would have been fine. But he just… kept… doing it. And with every strike I just started laughing more and more.

The Emperor was… something. Of course he was probably one of the men who has chi powers judging by his sleeve attacks. Honestly, that part felt so random, my siblings and I were all laughing and going “what??”. His voice was so clearly dubbed in, and badly done. He also seemed to have been given the clunkiest dialogue in the movie. I also miss the scene in the animated movie where Shan Yu tells the Emperor to bow down to him and the Emperor replies, “No matter how strong the wind blows, the mountain cannot bow down to it.” because that line was awesome.

The sister’s character was also completely unnecessary. According to Disney, she’s to showcase Mulan’s devotion to her family and give her more motivation to do what she does. But?? She took her father's place in the war to protect him?? Wasn’t the whole point of her story is her pretending to be a man to protect her father from certain death?? Is that not already a huge motivational factor and shows her devotion to her family??

Does anyone else also find it weird that when Mulan was in the army, everyone referred to her by her full name? Like everyone had their first names and were called that, but for Mulan it was always Hua Jun? Btw for those not aware, with Chinese names, the surname is at the beginning. Hua is Mulan’s surname. So shouldn’t they be calling her simply as Jun??

Moving on, I have to bring attention to several of the changes in the movie. It’s like they cut out all the scenes that gave the movie an emotional impact and replaced it with bland scenes that didn’t add to the story at all. Her decision to take her father’s place in the war and steal his armor was replaced with some weird thing about her getting lost and the phoenix having to bail her out.

The incredible moment when Mulan gets the arrow from the top of the post was replaced by bringing two buckets to the top of the mountain. Anyone who is strong and determined enough would have been able to do that. With the arrow, she needed to think and strategize, using the weights to help carry her up. With the buckets, she just used her chi superpowers.

The drama and shock as the happily-singing soldiers come upon the destroyed village becomes a drawn-out traveling scene that has the General asking Mulan to marry his daughter, and then cuts to the army at the village.

The scene where it looked like Shang was going to kill Mulan but then he spares her because she saved his life is gone completely since they decided to split Shang into two characters instead. Even Mulan’s line where she says, “You believe Ping, why not Mulan?” was given to Honghui instead, robbing Mulan of her moment.

Honestly, there was no need for the Witch and her fight scene with Mulan, but apparently in the movie, chi is weakened by dishonesty. It’s weird that the Witch is even telling her that since they’re supposedly enemies, and telling her about the dishonesty will make Mulan stronger.

Another thing is Disney’s weirdly intense focus on arranged marriages and matchmaking, with multiple characters mentioning whether or not they are matched or asking others if they are. Even at the end, the sister goes “oh I am matched”. I didn’t see the point of having that in the movie.

I almost forgot about the trebuchet/catapult! The Rourans are supposed to be a Nomadic people. Where are they finding the time and energy to drag that gigantic thing around? I also have to mention that the Rourans had some incredibly good aim when firing at the soldiers but missed by a long shot when they fired at where Mulan was hiding. That was… dumb, to say the least.

How did Mulan even get there anyways? And how did she carry all those helmets with only two hands? I’m even giving her some leeway because there are people who can control a horse with just their legs. The actress for Mulan also has clearly never fired an arrow before and was not given training for it. The way she loaded the arrows and how her fingers sprung open like that screamed CGI arrows

And now I’m remembering the random horse gymnastics the Rourans used to turn around on their horse so that they could fire arrows while riding. It looked cool, yes, but I don’t think that was the most efficient way to turn around.

Back to the fight scene, Mulan managed to go from chasing the Rourans into the mountains and fighting the Witch, to back to where her army was, then somehow teleported to a different mountain behind where the Rourans were. She also somehow outran an avalanche?? She also killed her own men in that avalanche. Not the best plan in my opinion.

Ultimately, Mulan’s growth and arc to become a soldier and hero of China was undermined by the fact that she was already perfect due to her chi powers. There was no need for her to grow and train because her chi made her strong, her chi made her skillful. And because of this, she lost her relatability. I hate to say this, but she became a Marysue.

I don’t know where to put this but Mulan’s makeup and outfit for the matchmaker scene was the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Green eyebrows?? Really?? What happened to her face? What happened to her dress? Everyone’s costumes also felt unrealistically colorful for a poor farming village.

Lastly, I’m sure many of you know that Disney worked with, credited, and gave thanks to the Xinjiang authorities. Those authorities are responsible for imprisoning up to TWO MILLION Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, forcing them to learn and be patriotic about China’s communist doctrine and propoganda, not allowing them to practice their faith, and subjecting them to horrific conditions, torture, sexual abuse, forced sterilization, brainwashing, and other abuses.

To end this overly wordy review, I don’t understand why Disney would willingly get so much wrong. They tried very hard to make changes and appeal to the Chinese audience but refused to have Chinese creators to help with the screenplay, directing, costume and makeup, etc. Now all they’ve done is alienate said audience.

#mulan 2020 #mulan #disney #rant

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tonya-the-chicken · 4 years

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I wrote this post some time ago as a reply to someone and now I somehow want to post it again with some changes lol

TW: mentions of murder, referenced canon abuse and swearing

Let’s talk about redemption arcs and people’s overwhelming desire to punish fictional characters for what they did... Inspired by Endeavor hate ngl... I mostly speak about fictional charcters in this post so pllease, don’t go dumb and understand that fictional characters and irl people should be treated differently

I think sometimes people don`t understand why punishment exists in our society at all. Like, why couldn`t we just forgive? Why punishment is needed? Oh, I would like to talk about behavioural psychology, but it is kinda creepy so instead let`s remember what my teacher of LAWS said(idk what you call it in your bitchass America)

Punishment basically serves two functions:

Preventative (show others and a person that they can’t just get away with their deeds). Like, if you knew that there are no negative consequences, wouldn`t you do it? Wouldn`t you kill the old lady?

Correction and all work with a person in general (for example, you can be forced to go through some psychological help)

Also, I lied there’s one more: compensation. Like, if you stole something, then bring money back, you little shit. Or pay for therapy for your victim

So when we put it into stories and so popular nowadays redemption arcs (which I fucking adore if they are done correctly) we have 4 points out of this 3 cause the first one can be put into two

Character is punished to show others that this is not something you should do (it’s a kinda societal thing and has nothing to do with character in particular. This point in general is not interesting because it doesn’t drives changes in person by itself)

Character is punished so he himself would think twice before doing this shit again (we can’t know if person’s remorse is genuine so it’s better to simply scare them. But I can allow skipping this point if person’s remorse is clealy shown to be genuine and we as readers understand that. That’s probably the big distinction we, as readers, should see: while irl we never know persons true motives, work of fiction can provide them to us clearly)

Character changes and understands what is wrong in what he has done (the part of redemption we all love and enjoy)

Characters work hard to correct or atone for their mistakes

As we can see first two bullets has nothing to do with character development and serve for the purpose of maintaining order. The third one IS a character development and the last one is what makes people actually forgive horrible actions and not go ape shit I guess. But for some of us nothing is enough, isn`t it?

And there is one more shit that is often in redemption arcs and that shit is great and I fucking love it

Explanation of the character’s behaviour, their reasoning and motivation

I truly enjoy reading about WHY characters behave a certain way but people, remember, SAD BACKSTORY IS NEVER AN EXCUSE FOR YOUR ACTIONS. Same goes to your mental problems and hard life situation. The fact that behaviour can be explained doesn’t mean shit. Like, behaviour also follows certain laws and despite the fact that it’s sometimes hard to understand all the details we still theoretically can explain ANY BEHAVIOUR. Does this mean we can excuse any behaviour? HELL NO

So remember folks, “They had their reasons to do this” means nothing most of the time. “I wanted to try how it feels” is actually a valid reason to kill someone, you know. Of course, if crimes is not severe, reasoning suddenly can be very important like we won`t punish harshly someone who stole bread cause he is starving or cause he has kleptomania (I mean as a literal disorder). But even in that case you must pay back money cause like stealing is bad but eat the rich

let`s talk examples from bnha cause why not

Endeavour

We have Enji oh my baby you have done so much stupid shit you dumbass. Sad backstory even if will be brought up in the future, currently is not a focus of redemption at all. Like, he even doesn`t explain his behaviour too much. “He want to be the strongest, so he decided that even if his genes will make it to the top it will be enough. As a result, blinded by his goal, he abused his family”. Basically, it`s all the explanation we have right now. And if Hori stops at it I will be fine with it. Honestly, as much as I want to learn more about Enji’s past if Horikoshi leaves everything at this I would give him nothing but mad respect cause... This kind of shows that your reasoning doesn’t matter that much if you did horrifying things

So 3 points to redeem someone

Enji didn’t suffer any punishment for his actions (nightmares are considered punishment only if you believe in God. Also, too weak, God, try harder... And same goes for High-End). When I think about him being punished I actually worry about society’s reaction cause, like, he is number 1 hero and the fact that he’s an abuser will be, like, very shocking to simple people.Trust in hero will fall harder than my will to live during 2020. And honestly, media would just turn this into a drama possibly hurting other members of his family, like.... Enji being legally punished for his action would be an interesting plotline but in general I am not a fan

We see his genuine remorse and character growth. We all agree that he even is drawn differently now changed and trying to become a better person, yeah? Clumsily at first, but he genuinely works hard to be a better peron, hero and father. I can respecct that

Compensation… Well, you can exactly “correct” trauma so he should pay up for psychologists for each child he probably should follow the path of atonement and try to give them something he robbed them from. Like, go to family dinners with Fuyumi even though every last one of them is a disaster and nobody is happy to be there. Or make everything possible to provide Rei calm life with her children (like building a new house, yes, this is an amazing thing) or at least become *reducted cause I wanna this post to be serious and SFW*... Tbh I have nothing to say, he himself says multiple times that he seeks nothing but atonment, not even forgiveness

So like you better work bitch to make your family happy bastard... [And tbh they seem so much better then when I first wrote this post, I am so proud of you, my garbage fire man]

Overhaul

In no way is he redeemed but somehow people put Overhaul and Endeavor stans in the same category so here he goes

Kai has something Enji doesn’t: very good and detailed explanation, a plan, a smart reasoning. His wrong deeds were basically for a better good he believed in. But we all collectively hate him for what he done to Eri despite his actions having r E A S o n S. Dude has some MOTIVATION. So like yeah bros. It makes him an interesting character and he is an amazing villain but dude deserves to rot in prisons. He shows no remorse and I am gonna bet he won`t even think about somehow helping others. Dude is a shitty person. And I fucking love him

So let’s go for our 3 bullets again

Punishment. Yes, he is punished, he is in jail with both his hands cut off. Would it make people forgive him? Nah

Personal growth. I would like to see it but as far we saw barely no growth... Though maybe being in jail without quirk will make his brain work

Atonement... Dude has a Messiah complex, I ain’t waiting for that anytime soon

So I asked myself if I had two men: one who spent a sentence in jail for child abuse but is more or less the same person and another who wasn’t punished for his abuse but feel genuine remorse and actively try to make things better who will I choose? Of course, I will choose Pikachu

But is it possible to redeem Overhaul? I wonder if there`s a force in this world strong enough to make him become a better person. Welp... I am a sucker for redemptions, justt letting you know

All for One

Oh, he is irredeemable (and this is sexy). Why is he here? Cause, well

Even if he is punished there`s no punishment severe enough to describe how horrifying his deeds are

Even if he is to feel remorse… he has like 500 years or something??? And he didn`t feel anything killing people??? So why would he change today?

Even if he atone for what he’s done… I am to believe he started at least a civil war. You can`t atone for that bitch. You crossed all fucking lines, all fucking lines

AfO is literally the most evvil man in bnha... I don’t want to see him redeemed cause I love characters that are pure evil and I love the despair of realizing you can’t fix what you have done. Though you are free to have a different opinion! Who knows, maybe Horikoshi will make a classy redemption for him and I will scream out of excitement? Cause I am that kind of bitch??? Who knows! I just love to think Doctor Ujiko is gay for him

Anyway, why do people like to make this characters suffer? Like, Endeavor, Minoru, Overhaul, many others? Is this part of the “punishment” to feel like person paid for their deeds? Or do people just like fictional violence and punishing “bad” characters make them feel good about themselves? Who knows

I have no idea what this post is about I want to sleep and I like Enji though if you dislike him this is fine. I hope it was interesting reading this, love you all bye

Don’t kill me for my controversial takes, I am depressed

#overhaul #endeavor #all for one #redemption arc #bnha #bnha meta #yea I do classify my bullshit post as meta BYYE #bnha endeavor #bnha overhaul #enji todoroki #kai chisaki #boku no hero academia #don't take this too seriously though #original post was written when I was on heavy meds #so idk #my post #really hope you enjoy it #long post

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idabbleincrazy · 6 years

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A Fish May Love A Bird

Pairing: GabrielxReader

Characters: Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Cas, au!Charlie Bradbury, Rowena, Jack Kline, mentions of other bunker residents

Word Count: 8009 (aaaahhhhh!!!! how did that happen?!)

Warnings: angst, some fluff, major blood loss, jealousy, idk what else

Summary: Gabriel wants to throw a Halloween masquerade. Reader is starting to realize feelings that weren’t there before. (i still suck at summaries)

A/N: this was inspired by this month’s Trope prompt on @gabriel-monthly-challenge Prompt: Mistaken or hidden identity because someone is in a costume or mask. It started out as a small idea, and snowballed from there. took inspiration from the movie Ever After (switched up the quote a bit to fit the characters better).

One Week Till Halloween

You were in the kitchen when you heard the bunker door thud shut. Cas and Dean were sitting at one of the tables in the library looking for a new case. You went about fixing dinner for your various new housemates until you heard Sam call for you from the library. You set the timer on the oven and walked out to see what he wanted.

“Yeah, Sam?” You walked into the library and saw the three men standing around a huge package set on one of the tables.

“Did you order something, y/n? This was waiting for us at the post office, but there’s no name on it. It’s just addressed to our P.O. Box; there’s no return address either.” Sam looked over to you as Cas reached out to the box slowly, face scrunched up as though trying to sense if there was anything unnatural inside it.

“No, I haven’t ordered anything since before our last case. Maybe one of the new guys did?” You walked over to the table and inspected the box. The box itself was unremarkable, but the shipping label, oddly enough, was handwritten in a long flowing script, almost as though it had been made with a quill. It was strange, to say the least.

Dean looked up from the box and shook his head. “No. We haven’t told any of them the address to it yet. Sam, go grab an E.M.F. meter, would ya? See if there’s anything haunted or cursed in there before we just go tearing it open.”

Sam went to grab the one he kept in his room and hurried back. He turned it on and moved it over the box, but nothing triggered it. Setting the meter down on the table, Sam pulled the box closer, reaching to undo the tape on the side of the wrapping.

“Ah, ah, ah, Sammy. Isn’t it a federal crime to open other peoples’ mail?”

The four of you whipped around, weapons drawn automatically to face the unexpected voice.

“Brother”, Castiel sighed, slowly lowering his angel blade.

“Goddammit, Gabriel! We could have shot you, you know?” Dean holstered his gun, exasperated as always with the Archangel’s habit of turning his appearances into a jump-scare. “And what do you care if we open the box, anyways?”

“I care because it’s mine. I had wanted to make it a surprise for everyone, but Samsquatch beat me to it.” Gabriel sauntered from the entryway, stopping by your side, and taking the box from Sam.

You raise an eyebrow in curiosity and ask, “So, what’s the surprise then?”

“Well, sweet cheeks, I could tell ya, but I’d rather show ya.” He scoops the box into his arms and turns to walk back the way he came. The four of you stare at him in confusion as he stops in the doorway, calling over his shoulder, “Make sure everyone gathers here after dinner, okay?”

A frown tugs at the corners of your lips as he continues back to his room. What the hell? Now, you were even more curious about his big secret. You turn back to the guys and shake your head. You decide there’s nothing for it but to wait and see, so you head back to the kitchen to finish up the cooking. The sooner everyone eats, the sooner you get to find out what’s in the box.

As you wait for the casserole to finish so you can start baking the variety of pies you prepared for dessert, you let your mind wander back to Gabriel. You had been hunting with the boys for a few years now and had heard quite a few stories about the tricky Archangel. When you had met him a few months ago, after Ketch had rescued him, and after he completed his ‘Kill Bill’ mission, the two of you had quickly developed a friendship. You found his silly puns and flirty looks a refreshing change from all the overprotective-brother vibes you’d received from the Winchesters and Cas.

Of course, you always gave as good as you got. He’d give you one of his smoldering smirks and you would toss back a playful wink and a bubbly giggle. You knew it was all in good fun, and what could you say; you enjoyed the attention. The band of survivors you guys had brought back from apocalypse world were nice and all, but none of the guys seemed to care much for actual flirting. You couldn’t really blame them though, they were nearly a decade out of practice. Those guys, they preferred to jump straight to the finish line. You, on the other hand, preferred the thrill of the chase; even if you didn’t get caught in the end. That’s what made Gabriel such good company. At least, until recently. Lately, something in the dynamic had shifted. When he winked at you, sometimes you would feel a shiver start its way up your spine. Or you would feel your heart start to race when he made one of his flirty comments. Somewhere along the line, you had started to fall for that golden-eyed trickster.

The buzzing of the oven timer brought you out of your thoughts and you shook your head to clear it. You heaved a sigh as you took out the casserole, and nearly dropped it as you realized that in your distracted state, you had only put on one oven mitt. You let out a loud hiss at the pain, quickly setting the dish down on the counter. Running over to the sink, you turned the water as cold as it would get and shoved your hand under the faucet to stop the heat from causing further damage.

You let out a curse as you kept your hand there for a minute. After you pulled your hand from under the water, you gave it a close look. It had turned an ugly red color in a big patch on your palm. You tentatively tried closing your hand and immediately let out a yelp. You called out for angelic help. You had meant to send out a mental call to Cas but at the last second, your brain switched gears and reached out for Gabriel. Help.

He appeared before you with a soft flutter of hidden wings, on full alert at your less-than-specific plea. His shoulders relaxed when he saw there was no one else in the room. He steeped over to you, eyebrows knit in confusion. “Jeez, cupcake! A cry like that, I was ready for some serious trouble. What happened?”

His eyes softened when he saw the way that your jaw was clenched and how you cradled your burning hand close to your chest.

“Just me being a klutz again. Burned my hand taking dinner out of the oven”, you gritted through your teeth.

He slowly pulled your hand towards him and placed a finger on the center of your palm as gently as he could. Soft, while light glowed from it and you could feel the pain receding as your skin returned to its healthy, normal shade. You looked up at him and could see a spark of blue fading from his eyes as his Grace settled back within him. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, sugarplum. Besides, can’t have you going off fighting monsters with a burnt hand, can we”, he winked at you, still holding your hand in his. “Now, I’ll just let you get back to it. I’m sure everyone’s good and hungry by now.”

With that, he let your hand drop from his and leaned in to place a gentle kiss to your forehead, as he often did any time you had gotten injured. Your eyes had closed at the touch and you didn’t open them till after you heard his tell-tale flutter of wings. You sighed and leaned your head back against a cabinet. What have you gotten yourself into now, you thought as you got back to putting the pies in the oven. You have got to get a grip.

————————————————–

You managed to finish cooking everything without further incident and were just bringing out dessert when Gabriel and Castiel showed up to join everyone at the two long tables that now occupied the newly proclaimed dinning area. Being angels, they didn’t need to eat of course, but both of them usually came out for dessert or even just for the company. Angels weren’t meant to be solitary beings, after all. The pair of them took their seats as Dean went about passing out slices of pie to everyone.

Gabriel catches your eye from across the table and shoots you a quick wink, grabbing a slice of the double-chocolate mousse pie you knew he tended to favorite. You smiled back softly, feeling a sigh catch in your throat. You vaguely hear Charlie saying something to you on your left and manage to pull your attention away from the sugar fiend to focus on her. “Sorry, what?”

Charlie giggles quietly and quirks an eyebrow at you. “I was just saying how great this pumpkin pie is. There’s no way this came out of a can. Your baking game is definitely on tonight, I’m kinda jelly.”

“Thanks, Char. I’m glad you like it, it’s a family recipe, much better than store bought. If you want, I can teach you how to make it. I could use some help with the desserts, Sam and Dean are awful at it.” You continue a light conversation with Charlie as everyone enjoys their pie. Your attention now fully redirected, you fail to notice how often Gabriel flicks his gaze over to you.

Soon enough, plates are empty, silverware set down and conversations are winding down as the feeling of full and satisfied bellies start to lull everyone in to a relaxed state. Before anyone can leave the room, Sam stands up and asks you all to meet in the library in five minutes, and your interest is once again sparked as you remember about Gabriel’s secret delivery. Cas is on clean up duty tonight, which takes all of two seconds as he snaps the dishes from the table, cleaned and put back in their respective cabinets and drawers. You follow the others to the library where you and Dean immediately head over to get a drink from the Men of Letters stash of aged whiskey. You pour out two glasses and head over to where Charlie is standing and hand her one. Three minutes later, Gabriel enters, carrying the large box from earlier, still unopened.

“So, Gabriel, end the suspense already. What’s the big surprise”, Dean asks, throwing him an annoyed look.

“Well, I thought that since Halloween is right around the corner, and you guys haven’t had the chance to celebrate a holiday in, like, forever, why not throw a party? And not just any party; a masquerade!” With that, he snaps open the box and pulls out its contents to reveal a bunch of masks, no two alike.

“A party?” Sam starts objecting, “Look, I really don’t think…”

“No! He’s right.” You look up from the pile of masks on the table and face Sam. “We should celebrate. We deserve to. Lucifer is dead, Michael is stuck in that other world forever, things haven’t been this close to normal in a very long time. What more reason do we need?” You stare at Sam, hope in your eyes. You truly do believe a night of fun will do everyone a world of good.

Sam glances over at Dean, a silent conversation being played out between them as the rest of you just sit there. After a minute, Dean simply shrugs and walks back over to the whiskey, bringing the bottle back to the table to pass around. “Okay. Masquerade it is, then. Well, Gabriel, tells us all the rest of your idea.”

“Oh, thank Father! I thought I was gonna have to do a bit more convincing to get the Buzzkill Brigade on board.” Gabriel smirked up at Sam, who just groaned and rolled his eyes. “Anywho, back to business. This isn’t gonna be just your average costume party. I’m talking full-scale Ball, capital ‘B’! And, to keep things interesting, with everyone’s consent of course, I’d like to have Rowena cast a spell that will distort everyone’s vision, just enough to not be able to discern any identifying factors. You know, height, eye color, all that jazz.” Gabriel looked over at Rowena questioningly. She simply nodded in response.

“Is that really necessary, brother?” Castiel quirked his head, confused.

“Of course, it’s not necessary, little bro. It just makes it more fun! Jeez, have learned nothing in the past ten years?” Gabriel looked back at his brother in disbelief before turning back to the rest of the hunters who were actually starting to look quite interested in the idea. “As I was saying, no one is going to be able to identify each other until they choose to reveal themselves. This spell will also be placed on Cas and myself just to keep things fair. Now, so that no one will know who picked which mask, I’ve made it so that each of you can simply think of the mask you want, and it will get sent to your room. If someone has already chosen the mask, you’ll hear a little buzzer go off in your mind letting you know to pick another one, if not, you’ll hear a ding. So, if all of you would come over and look through the pile and make your decisions.

Gabriel stepped back to let everyone gather around the table and you got up to join them. You were surprised that even Ketch and Bobby seemed begrudgingly intrigued by the whole thing; they too were sifting through the masks, Ketch making a face every now and then at absurdity of some of them. You started looking through the pile, stopping here and there to admire a few of the more unique ones; a black old-fashioned Venetian mask with a silver pattern on it, a brass deer mask with antlers and even ears sticking out from it, a golden-colored wolf one and even a feathered mask with horns on either side that looked quite devilish.

Finally, you landed on particular mask and somehow knew immediately it was the one you wanted. It had two white Koi fish wrapped around the eyes with ornate sky-blue fins making up the rest of the face. The detail put into it was beautiful. You gently set it back down and kept the image of it firmly in your mind. Two seconds later, you heard a soft ding inside your head. You spent another minute looking around at the masks just to throw off the scent if anyone happened to be paying any attention. Although you weren’t sure why, you felt yourself getting swept up in the moment and wanted to be sure you did this right. If Gabriel wanted everyone to be strangers for the party, then a stranger you would be.

A few minutes later, everyone seemed to have made their decisions as, all at once, the masks evaporated into thin air. Resisting the urge to run straight to your room to check for your mask, you walked over to join Gabriel, Castiel, and the Winchesters as the rest of the group dispersed for the night, most of them still abuzz with plans to go shopping for costumes to wear. It made your heart light to see them so happy for once. The survivors had gone through so much over the past nine years, they deserved to have some fun, without having to worry about what might be lurking out in the night. It had taken a couple months for them to get adjusted to this world, but most of them seemed to be doing quite well. Freedom can a lot for a person.

You sat down between Sam and Gabriel and reached over to grab the bottle from Dean that was, surprisingly, still half full. “So, what on Earth made you decide we needed a party, Gabriel?”

“Well, you know me, I love a good party. This seemed like the perfect reason. Besides, what you said to Sam was exactly the case I was gonna make. You guys have been hunting non-stop for years, the people we brought back have been fighting for their lives for the longest time, and…well, I thought it was high time Jack got to let loose and have some fun.”

It didn’t escape your notice, the way he skirted past his own horrible experiences over the past nine years. You gave him a warm smile as you felt your heart squeeze in your chest at the thought of what he had been through. He had opened up to you a bit more than he had with the boys about what Asmodeus had done to him. He was far from fully recovered; you doubted he ever would be, but his Grace was back completely now and his mind seemed to wander less.

“I gotta admit, I’m already excited about it. I’m sure it’ll be a great way for Jack to spend his first Halloween. Just don’t forget, he’s got a soft spot for nougat.” With that, you got up, hugged everyone good night and headed back to your room.

Sure enough, your Koi mask was there, waiting for you on your pillow. You picked it up to look it over again, before placing it carefully in the warded lock-box you kept under bed. Mask hidden from any potential spoil-sports, you changed into your night clothes and quickly drifted off for the night.

Five Days Till Halloween

You came down the bunkers’ stairs with Charlie and Rowena, arms full of shopping bags. The three of you had decided to go the mall two towns over to pick out what you would each be wearing to the party. So far, you had all managed to keep each other from seeing what you had bought. You hoped to keep it that way. You had found the perfect dress to go with your mask and you wanted to see everyone’s reactions all at once on Halloween. It was an ankle-length, light blue mermaid-style gown, complete with sequins that looked like fish scales. The dress hugged your curves in all the right ways, though you doubted that would matter much, once Rowena’s spell went into effect. To go with it, you had also bought a pair of white strappy heels. The three of you went off to your rooms to put your things away and agreed to meet in the war room in ten minutes. Rowena needed some help preparing a few ingredients for the distortion spell she would be using on everyone at the party.

You entered the war room to find Rowena setting out some jars and bunches of dried herbs. You stepped over to the map table and looked around at the items spread out before you. “Exactly how complicated is this spell, Ro? There’s, like, fifty different things here.”

“Oh, the spell itself is quite simple. It’s the preparation that’s the bitch. Could’ve done with a bit more warning from the sweet-toothed angel. Thanks for the help, by the way.” Rowena gave you a small smile. For years, even in the midst of being enemies, the two of you had been rather amicable with each other. Now that she was firmly on team Winchester, she had softened towards you even more, in some moments, almost motherly. You didn’t question it, you knew she still wasn’t over the loss of Crowley, and if you could relieve a bit of that pain, you were glad to do it.

As you smiled back, Charlie entered and joined you at the table. “So, ladies, where do we start?”

Rowena looked between the two of you and pursed her lips. “It’s a bit boring, I’m afraid. Mostly just need to get these herbs ground up and ready to be steeped. I’ve worked out the math on how much we’ll need for the spell to work on 30 people for a full evening.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her spell-book and set it in front of you. “Each herb needs to be kept separate until the spell is about to be done. Let’s get to work, girls!”

Three hours later, you put the last of the ground chamomile into its jar, groaning as you twisted the lid tight, your hand aching from all the chopping. Right on cue, you heard a flutter of wings behind you. Gabriel came up beside you, resting his hand on your shoulder. You whipped your head up at him and were met with a beaming smile. “Heya, cupcake. You okay?”

“Yeah. Just my hand cramping up”, you replied with a wince as a flare of pain ran from your wrist to the tips of your fingers.

His hand ran down from your shoulder, along your arm, causing minute goosebumps, and he wrapped your hand in his, letting his Grace heal you. You let out a sigh of relief as the warmth traveled through you. His touch lingered a minute and you could feel the little aches pains gained from a day of shopping leave your body. You flashed him a shy smile. “Thanks, Gabe. What would I do without you?”

“Ah, sugar, without me, you’d be living the same life, just more boring and with more sore muscles.” He let go of your and shot you a wink before turning to check on Charlie.

You looked across the table to see Rowena staring back, an eyebrow raised and a small smirk on her lips. What, you mouthed at her. She simply shook her head and gave you a knowing look. You looked away first, a flush rising to your cheeks. After Gabriel helped Charlie with her aches, and Rowena denied needing healing, he stuck around to help you gather everything up to take back down to the room where Rowena kept all the things she needed for spells.

Just as the four of you came back up the stairs, Dean was setting out everything for dinner; it was build-your-own-burger night. Gabriel gave your shoulder a squeeze and left to go find Castiel. You headed over to the dinner table eagerly, you loved Dean’s burgers and had worked up quite an appetite. The only downside to when Dean did the cooking was that dessert would be store-bought. Luckily, there was an Archangel on hand who was more than happy to snap up something better, if need be. You ate your fill and went to bed soon after, the events of the day having as much of an effect on you as a grueling hunt.

Two Days Till Halloween

You paced back and forth in the library, coffee mug in hand, watching Sam clack away on his laptop. After being cooped up in the bunker the last two days with nothing to do except ponder over Wednesday’s party, you felt restless. Most of the other hunters were still out on cases they had left to investigate days ago. Dean, Cas, and Ketch were in Ohio chasing some rugaru. Mary and and Maggie were tracking down a wraith a few states over. The rest were spread out all over. Only a handful of you had stayed back.

“Anything. Just find something for me to fight. I don’t care what it is. Ghost, werewolf, hell, I don’t care if Gabriel has to zap us down to the border for a damn Chupacabra hunt!” You had stopped your pacing to stand beside Sam, hovering there as he looked through news sites for anything that might even hint at a case.

A minute or so later, he looked up from the screen. “Think I got something. It’s down in Iola, ‘bout an hour and a half away. A couple of bodies were found, drained.”

“Guess we didn’t totally wipe out the Fang Gang after all. Well, let’s take down a few more, shall we?” You left to go gear up, a gleeful spark flashing in your eyes at the prospect of a hunt. You decided to call Charlie, who had made a quick run into town with Jack to see if they wanted to join. Jack was well on his way to becoming a proficient hunter and something like this should be great practice for the kid. Charlie agreed and showed up at the bunker ten minutes later, just as you had finished gathering everything together.

The four of you piled into one of the cars in the garage; you decided to sit in the back with Jack to go over some last minute tips and to test how much he remembered about how to deal with vamps. About thirty minutes into the drive, he pulled out a few of the candy bars he had stocked up on earlier, passing them around. You thanked him and let out a chuckle as he tore into a 3 Musketeer’s bar, noting he still hadn’t given up his love of nougat. The kid had really grown on you in the past year and half, he was like the little brother you never got to have.

full case fic here

Eight Hours Later

Gabriel, h-help. Please, we need you…You hoped he would hear your broken plea as you struggled to hold on to consciousness.

The fight had gone horribly wrong. There had been more blood-suckers than you had been prepared for. You and Charlie had gotten separated from Sam and Jack; the three vamps you girls had been flirting with at the bar in town, in an attempt to get them alone, had quickly overpowered you once a few more of their clan had shown up, effectively distracting Sam as he tried to make his way over to the pool tables where you and Charlie were. You remember Jack trying to use his Nephilim powers against the vamps as you were being dragged out into the alley behind the bar. The last thing you heard before being knocked out was Sam yelling.

When you woke, you found yourself in what looked like an abandoned factory. Your head was pounding; you tried to reach up to check for blood, only to find your action stopped by the manacles around your wrists. They had chained you to the wall, Charlie similarly bound a few feet to your left. “Charlie? Charlie, can you hear me? Are you okay? Char, Charlie please answer me.”

The only response you got was a soft groan, but at least you knew she was still alive. There was still hope. Your head throbbed again and your vision blurred. You struggled to think of what to do next. You bit back a moan as you registered a pain in your shoulder. You turned your head to look, and could see now that your sleeve was completely soaked through with blood; you couldn’t remember how that had happened. Unable to think of anything else to get you out of this mess, not knowing how long you had till the vampires returned, you prayed to the one person you could think of in that moment. The one person you wanted to see most right now. Gabriel…please…hurry. I don’t know how long I can hold on…help us…Sam, Jack, I-I don’t know where they are. Your thoughts rambled on as you tried to stay awake. A few seconds later you heard the flutter of wings followed by a panicked voice.

“Y/n, y/n, oh Father, what happened?!” Gabriel crouched by your side, immediately snapping you free from your chains. “Sweetheart, stay with me now. I’m gonna get you outta here in a second, just hold on.”

You raised your head weakly to look at him as he went to check on Charlie. “You came. Oh, thank God, you came. Is she…?”

Gabriel pressed his fingers to Charlies’ forehead and her eyes fluttered open, widening as she took in her surroundings. “She’s fine, y/n. Charlie, can you stand? It looks like y/n’s lost a lot of blood, I’m gonna have to carry her.”

“Yeah, I think so”, Charlie groaned out as she attempted to do so. She was a bit wobbly at first but was able to lean against the wall as Gabriel rushed back over to you.

He knelt over you, brushing back sweat-matted hair from your face. You winced as he gingerly scooped you into his arms, careful not to touch your injured shoulder. “I gotcha sugar. I gotcha. Just hold on a little longer.” Once he had you, he grabbed Charlies’ hand and flew you both back to the bunker.

You had landed in the Dean Cave and Gabriel immediately laid you down on the couch, crouching at your side. Charlie hovered at the end of the couch, behind your head, not wanting to leave you till you were healed. “You can help her, right?”

“Of course, I can. I just needed to get you out of there first, this is gonna take more time to heal than your injuries. I got Sam and Jack back too, by the way; you might want to go let them know you’re safe.” He cupped your face and gently turned it away so he could get a better look at the wound.

The vamps had nearly drained you, it was a miracle you had held on as long as you did. One hand still caressing your cheek, he splayed the other one over your shoulder and you let out a soft gasp as the warm of his Grace spread through you. You closed your eyes as you felt your body healing, a flush rising to your face as you regained the blood levels to do so. Sure, Gabriel had had to heal you before, but it had never felt this intimate. He usually didn’t have to place his hand directly on the wounds, a touch on the head was always sufficient. This was different. His hand lingered on your shoulder a second longer than needed. You were afraid to look at him, afraid of what you might say. Instead, you focused on keeping your pulse steady.

“Sugar, look at me.” Gabriel nudged your face in his direction and you opened your eyes. You couldn’t quite read the look on his face. “Don’t ever do that again, you hear me? That was too close a call. Next time, you call for me as soon as shit starts to hit the fan, okay?”

You nodded meekly, attempting to sit up. “Sorry. Everything happened so fast. Is everyone else okay? Brain’s still a bit foggy, you got the others back, right? Is the nest dead?”

“Shh, slow down. Everyone’s fine, I got them back, safe and sound. I’ll take care of the nest in a minute. I needed to heal you first.” Gabriel’s hands dropped down from your face as you swung your legs off the couch and pulled yourself upright. He took your hands in his and held your gaze. “I meant what I said. Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again. We can’t afford to lose you.” With that, he stood up and placed a small kiss to your forehead before walking towards the door. “I’ll let the others know you’re okay before I go take out the rest of those bastards. Get some rest. You’ve got a party to go to in about 48 hours, kiddo.”

After he left the room, you leaned back, shutting your eyes again as you tried to process everything that had just happened. You tried to make sense of Gabriel’s sudden seriousness and the look in his eyes as he had admonished you. You had never seen him so worried before. You groaned, rubbing your eyes as you fought back the wave of exhaustion washing over you. Gabriel was right, you needed rest.

You made your way through the bunker, finding the others in the war room. You hugged them all, glad they were safe, and made your way to your room. You changed into a pair of sweats and an oversized shirt and plopped onto the bed, falling asleep almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.

Halloween

You spent the past forty hours or so recovering from that disaster of a hunt. Gabriel had healed you up, but the effects of losing that much blood still took a small toll on you. You had slept through most of yesterday, waking for small periods of time to eat and shower. You lounged around in the Dean Cave for a few hours earlier today and then had decided to head back to your room to start getting ready for the party.

After taking a steaming hot shower you dried your hair and styled it before slipping into your dress. You applied a modicum of make-up, not bothering to do the full routine since the distortion spell would probably make it pointless. You still had thirty minutes till the party started so you sat on your bed and let your mind drift off.

Your mind called up the images from the other day, when Gabriel had rescued you. The look of horror on his face when he found you chained to the wall, half-dead. You had never seen him look so scared. He had been so gentle with you, as if one wrong move might finish you off. Then when he was healing you, the look in his eyes as his Grace patched you up inside. Something was different about the way he looked at you then. It was as if he had suddenly stumbled upon some revelation that had been hidden in plain sight.

You pulled your mind from that image not wanting to dissect it further. Instead, you thought back to the feeling of being held in his arms for that briefest of moments as he brought you back to the bunker. You had never felt so safe in your life. Even as you struggled to stay awake, you trusted those arms not to drop you, not to let anything else hurt you. You thought of the feeling of his hand on your shoulder, the other one cradling your cheek. So warm against your freezing skin.

There was no hiding from the truth now. The way you felt in those moments, surrounded by him, you knew you were in love and there was no going back. Sighing, you shook your head to clear it, checking the time. Five minutes. You got up, took a final look in the mirror, and pulled on your mask, taking care not to muss your hair. As you went to grab the doorknob, you felt an odd sensation wash over you. You placed your hand flat against the door to steady yourself as your head swam. Rowena had warned you all that the spell would make you dizzy for a moment, but she hadn’t told you when she was going to be casting it.

You went back to the mirror to check it had worked. You could see yourself clear enough, but you couldn’t make out the color of your eyes. It seemed to be continuously fluctuating from shades of a deep brown up to a light blue. The same thing was happening with your hair, and your lips kept changing in shape and lipstick shade. The only things about your appearance that remained the same was your costume. Well, you could see why Gabriel wanted to use this spell. It would be nearly impossible to tell anyone apart this way.

Once you’d adjusted as best you could, you finally walked out of your room and headed to the library, where Gabriel had said the main part of the party would be held. As you got to the entryway, you froze and gasped at the beauty before you. The room had been completely transformed. Gabriel had tapped into his Trickster magic to make the library at least three times bigger, with a great arching ceiling and giant columns stretching up from a marble floor. There were sparkling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and candle sconces along the walls. You felt as though you were stepping into a forgotten century.

Against the walls were tables overflowing with candy, desserts and drinks. Gabriel had chosen a simple color pattern of black and white, which just lent more to the austere glamour of it all. You walked into the room slowly, soaking it all in. You were the first to arrive. You had all been told that you were only to head to the party once the spell had set in, and that each of you would feel it at different times. It seemed Gabriel was leaving little to chance. You smiled to yourself at how much effort he had put into tonight.

Within about half an hour, almost everybody had arrived. You looked around at all the beautiful costumes the other hunters had managed to come up with. Most of the men had decided on suits or tuxes that matched well with there masks, and the women wore dresses of varying lengths and styles. One woman, you couldn’t quite tell if it was Mary or Rowena, wore a floor-length black gown with sequins along the bodice to go with the silver and black mask she donned, which had long black feathers coming up from the top of it.

Once everyone had arrived, music started out of nowhere. Not just any regular music like you would hear at a party not being thrown by an over-dramatic Archangel, classical music. You chuckled as you heard Mozart’s Don Giovanni start up. Leave to him to choose music no one would know how to dance to. As soon as the thought entered your mind, a few of the hunters headed to the center of the room, paired up and started dancing a perfect minuet. You gaped at them as they danced lightly across the floor, absolutely confident in every step. No doubt this was also Gabriel’s doing. If only you could figure out which one was him. His tell-tale honey- colored hair was nowhere in sight among the ever-changing shades of brown, black, blonde and red. As it had been in your mirror, the only things that didn’t change were the masks and costumes. Maybe you could figure out which costume would suit him most.

You were already fairly certain that the man in the bronze colored deer mask was Sam and that the mask that was covered in brown and black feathers, with devilish looking horns on either side was being worn by Dean. The suits they were wearing looked quite similar to the ones they wore when pulling the FBI schtick. The man in the sharp black tux with the silver-trimmed, iron-hued mask definitely had to be Ketch, only he could pull that look off.

Finally, your eyes stopped on a man over on the other side of the room, sitting with some of the women, head thrown back in laughter. You recognized the mask from when you were looking through them, deciding on your own. It was a sturdy-looking golden wolf mask, absolutely exquisite in detail. That had to be him. The suit he was wearing was plain, but of great quality and looked perfectly tailored. You felt a shiver run through you as you watched him. He must have said something funny, the girls sitting around him giggled and one of them reached out to grasp his hand. He leaned in closer to her to whisper something, careful of the mask’s nose.

Your stomach sunk at the sight of him being so close to the woman. You turned away quickly and went over to one of the snack tables. You grabbed a flute of champagne and downed it in a gulp before grabbing another and filling a small plate with chocolate-covered strawberries and a few mini milky ways. You walked over to one of the tables by the entrance and sat down heavily. So much for a fun night. To think you had fooled yourself into thinking he might possibly feel the same way you did. Maybe you had just put too much stock into the look on his face the other night. It was nothing more than someone being worried for their friend.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t realize right away that someone had joined you at the table. Not till you heard him speak.

“I’m sorry. What?” You looked over to see a man in an all black suit, wearing a black Venetian mask covered in a silver pattern. The nose of the mask was almost like a beak. You chanced a look at his eyes and saw how they swirled from a rich brown to sea blue and back again.

“I said, are you okay? It’s hard to tell exactly, with this spell on us, but you look a bit down.”

You thought you recognized something in his speech pattern and the way his eyes kept going back to blue every few seconds was leading you to think that it was Castiel you were sitting with. As he talked, you took in his posture, slightly stiff, and his head was tilted in that bird-like gesture he often used when he was unsure of something.

You sighed and decided not to beat around the bush about how you were feeling. He didn’t know who you were, after all. “Just…I don’t know, jealous I guess.”

“Jealous? Of who?” Sensing the seriousness of the matter, he stood and offered his hand to you.

You thought for a second and took it. He led you over to a quieter spot where no one could overhear you. As you crossed the room, your eyes wandered back to the wolf mask. He had led the girl he was talking to out onto the dance floor. They looked so graceful, gliding across the floor in a perfect waltz. You blinked away the tears trying to fight their way out and tore your eyes from them. Cas called your attention back to him when you’d reached a spot slightly hidden from the rest of the room.

“Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”

You let out a sigh, trying to find the words. “It’s Gabriel. Lately, I don’t know, I thought something had changed between us. The way he’s been looking at me. There’s this new gentleness to the way he touches me, I thought…I don’t know what I thought.” You trailed off and looked up at Cas. He looked confused still, the look on his face asking you to go on. “I guess I was just reading too much into it. I was starting to hope he felt the same as I do. I, I love him. But look at him,” you gestured over to the dance floor, “there he is, dancing with someone else. Flirting to his Grace’s content. I was a fool to think he could ever look at me as more than a friend.” You looked back at Cas, “After all, a fish may love a bird , but where will they live?”

“Then I shall have to make you wings.” He reached out a hand to cup your face, his other hand slowly lifting the mask from his face.

“Gabriel!?” you gasped. “I, I thought you were Castiel! Oh, God, I’m gonna be sick.” You tried to turn away but he quickly grabbed your hand, pulling you closer to him.

“Please, take off your mask. Let me see you.”

You let out a shaky breath, looking into his eyes. They were once again golden, now that he had revealed himself to you. Your heart raced as you raised your free hand to take off your mask. “There. Now you know.”

“I hoped it was you.” That was all he said before he slid his hand up from yours, to the back of your neck, leaning in until he was just an inch from your lips. “I love you, too sugar. I have for some time now. I almost lost you the other night. I’ll never let that happen again.”

He closed that last inch of space and pressed his lips to yours. After a few seconds, you broke through the shock, and kissed him back. Your hands wound around his neck, your fingers winding in his hair as you deepened the kiss, parting your lips in invitation. His tongue slid over yours slowly, the taste of chocolate overpowering the champagne that lingered on yours. After a minute, he pulled back.

“Now, I believe I said something about wings?” He snapped his fingers and stepped back. You felt a new weight on your back and turned your head to see a pair of light blue butterfly wings strapped over your now shimmering blue silk dress. The dress flowed down to the floor, sparkling in the candlelight. You looked down at the forgotten mask in your hand to find that it, too, had changed. Gone were the fish; it was now covered in blue lace and a pair of wings flared out from one side. You smiled up at Gabriel, a tear sliding down your cheek. “It’s beautiful. Thank you, Gabriel.”

“I never want you to feel like you have to have to be better than you already are. Don’t ever think that you’re not enough.” He wiped the tear from your cheek and kissed you softly. “Now, put you’re mask back on. We’ve got a party to enjoy.”

Monthly Challenge tags: @gabriel-monthly-challenge @archangelsanonymous @revwinchester @ttttrickster

Gabe’s Babes: @liloldlou @calamitychaos @samaxraph99

Rich’s Bitches: @warlockwriter @archangelgabriellives @green-draws0 @waywardtricks @hankypranky @thewhiterabbit42 @spnimpalaimagines @pervyprincess84

#gabriel x reader #mistaken identity trope fic #gabriel-monthly-challenge #dabble creates spn

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rosenfey · 5 years

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I'm sorry if you've been asked this before but I gotta ask~ what do you love about John Seed so much? I don't hate him or anything, I don't even play fc but you post about him so much and I'm simply curious what it is about him that you love so much and what makes him your favourite character? :)

Hey there nonnie, I dig up an old essay I wrote about this for a different anon several months ago, and altered it a bit, hope it’s not gonna be too long for you. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Under read more, so I don’t clog everyone else’s dashes [mobile users have my sympathies].

Anyway, first and foremost, I’d like to state that I in no way want tocondemn any of the actions John did. Idk how much do you know about the gameor whether you possibly plan on giving it a go in the future so I won’t spoilyou, but being one of the antagonists, he did a lot of very crooky shit. I’mnot a person who would have to ignore a character’s flaws in order to like themand instead of being like ‘uh uh he’s a cinnamon roll who did nothing wrong andI love him uwu’ I’m more around the lines of ‘he did every single thing wrong, he fcked up real hard AND I love him’. [Might be because I’m a certifiedvillain stan, so…]

The thing with the antagonists - the Seed family - in this game is, thatthey are well written. Better than the majority of the good guys [but that’sjust my humble opinion; I found it hard to care for any of the members of theresistance fighting against the family, in fact I didn’t become attached to anysingle one of them, the villains seemed much more interesting to me]. They arenot your basic chaotic evil Bad Guys that want to do evil for the sake of doingevil, they have a purpose and they have goals, ultimately good goals that arebeing achieved by bad people. I have always been and always will be very weakfor villains who believe they are the heroes, either because they are manipulatedor unable to see the reality of their actions. This is not because I wouldultimately want to take a leap and call them innocent, because they wantedto do good, even though they used evil ways to achieve it. No, I’m not tryingto do anything like that. But it’s always refreshing to see a villain whoactually has some depth and isn’t just your basic psychotic killer that wantsto rule the world and wreak havoc etc.

John is exactly that type of a villain. I wasn’t very drawn to hischaracter on my first playthrough, I mean, sure, he’s handsome and my type always revolved around dark haired men with blue eyes and beards, but Ididn’t give much thought to his backstory. It was when I found out about himmore [mostly on the wiki and official sources like the novel that came out,because Ubisoft decided to not put more info about the Seeds in the games forsome reason, which is a thing I’m forever salty about, but that’s not what thisis about].

I think the scene where he captures the deputy - the protagonist - for the second time [the gamehas this habit of scripted kidnappings after you collect enough resistancepoints by pushing against the cult] was a breaking point for me. Like he opensup about his past [really just hints at it, like I mentioned, damn you Ubisoft,but still]. I know it sounds cliché, but I have a thing for villains withtragic past. John was beaten up by his foster family for any ‘sinful’ behaviorhe showed, up to the point he made up some things he did, as he was led tobelieve no one is really ‘innocent’, and not confessing to your sins only meansyou are hiding them. You can clearly see he’s still affected by this - in hisfirst scene, where Joseph, his older brother and the leader of the cult, callshim out on letting his anger take the hold of him. John’s expressionchanges from someone who just tried to half-drown the protagonist to a scaredboy that’s been yelled at in a matter of seconds. He knows he messed up very badly andas someone who was led to believe failings result in punishment, he expectsone, he almost looks like a scared child that’s aware of his bad behavior.

And that’s the other thing. John really believes in Joseph, and he thingshe’s doing the right thing. Until the end, he tries his hardest to convert thedeputy. Even if he has to twist their hand a little, using their friends fromthe resistance for example. He does this so ‘it might be easier if [the player]saw a friendly face’. He doesn’t try to just kill the protagonist, he wantsthem to make the decision to join the cult, to see his truth and admit Josephis right. He might force the decision on them, but he wants it to be theirs. Hewants the deputy to admit it themselves, that’s why he brings their friends tothe final mission where he tries to make them join the cult for the last time.

Joseph mentioned John used to be a caring and soft boy when younger, full ofcompassion and life. It’s easy to picture how everything would go without allthe cult business and the abuse John [and his brothers and sister] wentthrough. In no way such a past makes up for what he did, and I’m not trying tocondemn his actions or anything. I just really dig villains with depth andbackstories that actually make sense and can offer an explanation why they actlike they do now. Really, that’s what I like about John [and other Seeds, really]- I can relate to their past struggles, and I can easily understand why theyturned out this way. Not because I would try to justify their actions, it moreor less serves as a warning what might happen if people let their pastexperiences overtake them.

I don’t know, I dig villains with good sides, with positive traits that arehidden down under the negative ones. I dig villains that actually feel likepeople and are not meant to just be the Bad Guys. Finally, I dig villains thatdon’t see themselves as evil, and actually deeply believe that what they do isright. And of course, this is just my own interpretation, but I like to believethere’s a more human, kinder side to him still.

#ask #anonymous #hello my name is ambie and in this essay i will....#and also on a less serious note but he wears vests unironically owns probably several gucci shirts that cost more than my monthly rent #and can pull off those ray bans like an absolute icon #and honestly i stan #'you post about him so much' yeah im sincerely sorry for my nonfc followers #which is like 90% of my followers

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kyulkyungs · 6 years

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reverse-idol!doyoung

Request: Hi! May I please request a reverse idol! Au with Doyoung of NCT? Thank you so much

(part 2 found here!)

others: jaehyun (part 2) | jaemin (part 2) | haechan (part 2) | renjun | jisung

i might interpretate his personality incorrectly i deeply apologize ono

but closing my eyes and thinking about it, i can see doyoung as a gfx maker???

doing those pastel or neon edits, either or but most times he likes working with lavenders and light blues

he absolutely loves taking his time to make colors or features softer, loving the effect he has on being able to make things even more beautiful than they are

on the rare occasion he does typography and honestly why doesn’t he do it more??? the composition and colors are fantastic but he doesn’t find it as fun to do as coloring and smoothening people

but for the longest time he was just

stuck

he had no idea what to do for his next work and it was frustrating him to no end

models, actors, singers, dancers, even his whacky friends

nothing inspired him

it wasn’t until he saw a picture of you on one of his friend’s phones

he had merely glanced over to tell his friends to stop talking so loudly about some weird band when he saw a photoset of you and his breath was taken away

he was all like “……………who is that??”

and the boys would turn slowly and peer over their shoulders only to see doyoung extremely close and trying to get a better glimpse of the image on the phone

they’d look at each other and give him a weird look

“you always tell us you’re not interested whenever we bring this up, what changed?”

and doyoung just waves it off because he. HAS. TO. KNOW!!! WHO!!!! YOU!!!!! ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

and then all of a sudden he’s listening to your music, even some solos you had released because it “helps him focus and is really background noise for him”

yeah, no, he’s not even working while listening he’s jamming out and running the choreo in his head

he’s familiar with all the members and does edits on them too

but his main focus is on you

the only thing is, he can’t really seem to edit you that much???

because he sees no way to highlight or recolor or sharpen or smoothen out features when they’re already…………. there and beautiful

that’s one of his reasons for being so drawn to you, how beautiful he finds you and all he needs to do is make sure the colors work out together

and every comeback you destroy him even more and you can bet there will be a flurry of appreciation posts and more graphics of you

you can bet he probably has ten different screenshots of each scene you appear in

he still denies that he is becoming increasingly more loving and interested of your group when the others tease him about it

died internally when he saw your dance solo in the most recent comeback and nearly died for real when you started spitting out raps while doing it

screamed about it with mark for a week

because the contrast from how soft and sweet you looked normally in comparison to the major badass monster you threw at his face made him weak

when yuta comes up with his bias and claims that they’re the most beautiful being in the world doyoung pounces and has an entire list of why you’re so amazing and talented and godly

he even drew a couple diagrams

“you see the way their hair falls around their face?????? PERFECT 30 DEGREE ANGLE RIGHT…. HERE!!!!!”

he “caved” and bought an album for your comeback

no he wasn’t staying up late until he could purchase online and refreshed at least 5000 times

he loves your vocals and closes his eyes sometimes and tries to picture you singing in the studio, trying your best and hardest

honestly as much as he loves your stage presence and aura in videos

he loves those behind the scenes videos or those “what we’re doing on break or not on tour” videos that keep the fans caught up on what they’re doing in life

your domestic life looks so sweet and watching the way your charisma is still present when you’re not in performing mode makes him extremely soft

once one of the members video taped you sleeping and waking up and doyoung died inside because how???? can you still look so perfect???

and you were smiling sleepily to the camera and he nearly fell to the floor

the others never let him live this down

he calls you a sweet summer child and swats taeyong away from his monitor while he’s editing pictures of you because nO GET AWAY FROM THIS WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING

and taeyong is swatting him back because thAT’S HIS BIAS WRECKER HE WANTS TO SEE HIS BABY TOO

when seeing you do some sexy moves in a more mature concept he swears he cannot get enough of your expressions and how perfectly executed they are

eventually he had the one in a lifetime chance to go to a fansign

and he got really nervous because ????WHAT DO I DO??????

does he bring you a gift? write you a note? a question? two? should he wear his favorite pair of socks? or the ones in your favorite color? does that seem really tacky?

he gets really panicky and ends up buying a small little keychain of your favorite character from a cartoon show you said you watched when you were younger

tbh he really hated that show but seeing you get so animated over these 2D characters going on random adventures made him look at the show in a different light

that was until he got caught at 3AM into the third season of the show singing along to one of the songs by johnny who just wanted a glass of water

but when the others find out that he gets to go he goes into denial real fast because he’s “not really interested still and just needs better materials to edit since some of the fansites are at weird angles sometimes”

he apologizes a thousand times in his head because he LOVES those fansites for allowing him and so many others to see such glorious pictures of you and your group

the day of the fansign he’s so jittery and even brought his own camera for photos and brought maybe three extra sd cards

while he’s in the crowd he almost falls to his knees because yOU’RE RIGHT THERE!!!!!

he has to take several deep breaths in order to calm himself and his shaking hands and snaps the first photo

surprisingly it’s actually a well taken photo given that his hands were practically their own earthquakes

when he’s about to take the second picture he sees that you’re looking in his direction and the sparkle in your eye tells him that you’re looking at him directly

and you smile

his heart beats a lot quicker and then he snaps the photo

when he looks away from his camera he finds that you’re still looking at him and you’re giving him a thumbs up, almost as if you were saying “was it good?”

and he gives one back and you smile even brighter and then nod and look away to tend to someone and doyoung swears that he might faint

he keeps taking pictures of you and even some of the other members because they’re also really amazing

but like at least 90% of the pictures are you

when it’s his turn to go through the line it’s honestly at this time that he realizes that you’re the last person along the table

when he’s talking with the other members some of them point out that they saw his favoritism for you and are teasing him a little

one even calls out to you that you have an admirer coming up and his face goes red but the encouraging smiles make him a little more confident

especially when you turned a little pink

when he finally gets to you, he finds that a grin is on his face and it won’t go away

“are all the pictures you took of me good?”

“yeah……” doyoung finds himself just staring at you a little bit and you laugh because you realize that it’s his first time seeing you guys in person

“you’re new? will i be seeing you more often then since you’re here?”

and doyoung finds himself joking around with you a little bit “idk cause i’m starting to have second thoughts”

and instead of finding his humor offensive you laugh and pat his hands a little bit

and you both are like ……….soft

and the two of you keep joking around a little bit until it’s time for him to go

and when you wave at him while holding the little keychain (which yoy loved) and call out for him to make sure he comes more so you can see him often

and he feels his cheeks turning pinker and nods in promise because

he really wants to see you more often too

#elli writes #reverse idol au #doyoung #nct #nct imagines #nct scenarios #neutral pronouns #fluff

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niuxita21 · 4 years

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And since I’ve started blogging regularly about TV shows again after about a couple of years of finding my happy place in women’s football, I just need to be intense about the season 2 premiere of El Embarcadero for two seconds and then I’ll be fine.

I was legit terrified of watching this episode lmao because the s1 finale left me SHOOKETH and there were just so many ways to go from there but I was only going to be OK with a couple of them so for me there was a lot riding on how they chose to develop things after Alex’s shocking confession in the last few seconds of the finale and the new development of her possibly having realized her feelings for Verónica. My worst case scenario was a time jump of like a year or so to account for the passage of time in real life (maybe?) So IMAGINE my surprise and delight when the episode starts and it picks up right where they left off (even a few seconds earlier), like, I knew it was going to be a good episode when just a few seconds in and I already approved of the decisions being made.

The fact that we got a redo of the bed makeout scene but this time better shot and with NO ÓSCAR anywhere to be seen like ???? Did someone read my innermost thoughts and find out that I was a bit disappointed in the eclectic camera work that didn’t let me see shit and in Óscar being interspersed with Alex and Verónica kissing for the very first time in the finale? WHO SAID god is not real????

The confrontation post-confession went about exactly as I’d hoped/imagined it would with Verónica getting mad and kicking Alex out almost immediately without letting her explain. I did enjoy the glimpses we got of their fight before Alex left, with both of them getting super intense and in each other’s faces, made all the more delicious by the height difference. That said, I had to LOL at Alex’s “You came into my house and stole the love of my life, you can’t kick me out of your house!” bc LMAO gurl, I love you to pieces but whaaaa?? Lots to unpack here but bottom line, it’s OK, you did just makeout with a hot lady for the first time in your life, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t be thinking straight (ha!)

Verónica deciding that the best way to deal with her anger at being betrayed by “Martina” is to BURN ALL HER SHIT LMAO. That is a totally sane and healthy reaction to a friend breakup, shall we say, and not at all an indication of some deeper feelings there. Nope, not at all.

I loved that Alex said in therapy that she thought what happened to her with Verónica with respect to her inability to pull away from her was the same thing that happened to Óscar, because that’s what I’ve always thought. Like I can totally see why Óscar and Alex would be drawn to each other, they’re both hot, adorable, type-A nerds, so it also makes sense that they would be drawn to the same type of person who comes into their lives and puts everything completely upside down just by virtue of being like no one they’ve ever met before. Also, Alex saying she’s having trouble dealing with Verónica’s absence, nawwwww. This show is just committed to giving me everything I want and it’s only episode 1!!!

The scene between Verónica and Conrado was interesting on a couple of levels. 1) He finally showed his true colours as the typical man who appears to be a cool and understanding dude until something comes between him and a woman he has decided he wants and then the aggressive, possessive alpha-male jumps out. Bit disappointing ngl because I thought he was one of the good ones. And 2) Verónica’s “What do you want with [Alex]?” (roughly), just a few shades from being jealous, and “I’ll step away if I want to” made me think that she was legit gonna pursue something with Alex just to piss off Conrado, but thankfully that was not the case. I did like that it was a subtle continuation of the way she’d been tuning into the thing between Alex and Conrado in the last two episodes of season 1. I always thought it was the beginnings of jealousy because she was starting to develop feelings for Alex so we’ll see if I was right and she ever brings it up when they get together for real.

THE BATHTUB SCENE. Possibly my favourite moment between these two in the entire series so far, dethroning the hug at the beach in the season 1 finale. I mean, UGH, where do I even start. The way Alex looks down at Verónica naked in the bathtub with such tenderness and asks her if she’s OK. Her “I’m not leaving, I can’t be away from you” in response to Verónica kicking her out. The way you can see the wheels turning inside her head and weighing the options of doing what Verónica is ordering her to do or staying and continuing to fight to get her back, until the latter finally wins out and she straight up TAKES HER SHOES OFF and gets into the bathtub with her. Like, she doesn’t say a single word, but that’s her grand gesture right there and it does all the work for her because a few seconds later, Verónica breaks down and pulls her into the tightest softest hug and at this point I DON’T KNOW HOW I AM STILL ALIVE. Also, this shot:

Like what kind of epic love story shit is this??? And then:

How TIGHTLY Verónica is wrapped around Alex I can’t deal with any of it.

And then Verónica pulls Alex down with her and all of a sudden they’re CUDDLING IN THE BATHTUB WITH ALEX FULLY CLOTHED AND LAYING COMPLETELY ON TOP OF A VERY NAKED VERÓNICA BECAUSE OF HOW TINY SHE IS LIKE HOW IS THIS A REAL THING THAT I’M WITNESSING WITH MY OWN TWO EYES I CAN’T EVEN. And then Verónica apologizes to Alex for ruining her marriage and Alex quips that she never even found out and they both laugh and like, it’s amazing that they’re already at a place where they can joke about that like it’s nbd I’m just :))))

That said... it did feel like Verónica came around way too quickly. IDK it seems to me that Alex would have had a bit more explaining to do before Verónica felt like she was OK with forgiving her like, no offense to that tiny, possibly lesbian disaster, I mean, I love her, but what she did to Verónica was messed UP even if she WAS her husband’s mistress, and at the very least I feel like Alex needed to apologize for deceiving her like that. Maybe the key to all this is that mysterious message Alex said she left for Verónica but that we didn’t listen. Maybe she apologized and explained herself at length knowing Verónica probably wouldn’t let her do it in person? That makes sense to me. Hopefully we get to hear it in later episodes, given how timey-wimey the storytelling is on this show.

ALSO, Verónica calling her “Alejandra” for the first time. Ugh, I love this song. As a sidenote, I always headcanoned that, once Verónica found out who Alex really was, she would always call her by her full name and not by her nickname. It just seems to jive with what we know of her character so far. Let’s see if I’m right.

The whole sequence of Alex, Verónica, and Sol having a happy family afternoon riding the horse, playing tag on the beach, and having a tortilla de patata contest all set to that happy-go-lucky “Suspicious Mind” song is what serotonin is made of. My goodness. It’s impossible not to smile while watching it. And my biggest takeaway is Alex’s big ass SMILE:

She’s SO HAPPY. This little family that she conned her way into makes her so genuinely HAPPY and it melts my heart.

Alex telling Verónica she thinks Óscar was murdered and then “If you think someone killed him, I’m gonna help you find whoever did it.” Like DO YOU KNOW how much I wanted these two to team up and try to figure out what really happened to Óscar together??? I just figured, if it ever happened, it would be like halfway through the season at the very least, because that’s how long I imagined it would take Verónica to forgive Alex for deceiving her, so to have it happen already? IS IT MY BIRTHDAY OR SOMETHING??? And just, like, the amount of TRUST she already has in Alex, like not 24 hours have passed since she found out who she really is but she’s already willing to follow whatever theories she has and assuming she’s right. It makes me so happy.

Alex not being able to sleep next to a topless Verónica because she’s so attracted to her? Brilliant, fantastic, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, *chef’s kiss*, etc.

That whole morning scene when Alex wakes up and starts freaking out because Sol is gonna be late for school, like, she’s already acting like such a MOM to her, I can’t handle it. But my favourite part was how she asks Verónica “Did you burn ALL my clothes?” with not an ounce of reproach in her voice, she just wants to know if there’s anything in that house that she can wear to her meeting to save time, and Verónica’s like “I can lend you something” and Alex, “Something appropriate for a meeting with architects?” and Verónica fake ponders, “Hmm... let me think... nope,” clearly pulling her leg. I just ADORE how, now that the jig is up and Alex is being herself with Verónica, this new dynamic is starting to take shape wherein Alex can be all type-A with Verónica and Verónica just teases her about it without Alex even getting mad, the same way she did with Óscar.

Verónica dropping in on Alex at her work to tell her about the tickets to Óscar’s car. OK 1) The way Alex SMILES when she sees Verónica was probably my second favourite moment of the episode. There this show goes again subverting my expectations. When I saw Verónica walking in, I thought we were in for their first disagreement because Alex would be embarrassed about having Verónica there, since she’s always been very zealous about keeping her life at the albufera and her life as Alex separate. But NOPE, not this show!

skdfhkjdhk tattoo that smile on my forehead like???? I mean I thought I had a pretty clear read on Alex’s character so far, but she’s just throwing me for a loop here, lol. I guess being in love really does that to people IDK. (Sidenote: how GORGEOUS is she??? She’s got that classically Spanish dark hair and intense dark eyes that just drive me crazy.)

The both of them just sitting around in Alex’s office doing some amateur detective work re: Óscar’s speeding tickets and the mysterious town where he seemed to be coming and going, casually being like, “I’ve never seen him do that” “Neither have I” like they’re talking about a mutual friend and not about, idk, the man they were both in love with (and who is now dead) is freaking WILD, man, but also EXACTLY what I’d been wanting to see at some point and I still can’t believe the show is giving it to me so soon. Lastly, Verónica saying, “We should go to [that town]. Together.” makes me laugh because the “together” was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY lmao but hey, Vero, if it makes you feel good to constantly restate the fact that you and Alex are in this TOGETHER then who am I to criticize. These two, I swear.

The way Katia comes in and, instead of scrambling to find a logical explanation, Alex is just casually like, “Verónica, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Katia,” which, ngl, just raises a whole slew of questions lmao. Like, does this mean Katia already knows Alex came clean to Verónica? Or are we supposed to assume that that random introduction was all Katia needed to realize things had shifted between them? Hopefully we’ll find out later in a proper conversation. My favourite part, though, was Verónica’s “Katia, huh?”, like the last piece of the puzzle that was Alex’s lie finally clicked into place. I loved that Katia apologized for yelling at her when impersonating Alex and Verónica, in her classic Vero way, just brushed it off like it was nbd. I mean, we know how much Katia’s words affected her when she thought they came from Óscar’s wife, but now that she knows who his real wife is and that she would never actually feel that way about Verónica, it’s like the power those words had over her evaporated the same way that “Martina”’s persona did. IDK, I just loved that exchange.

LASTLY, when Alex and Verónica are at the mysterious town Óscar was going to and they find the house where he supposedly lived, and Alex says they need to call Conrado and Verónica tells her about him finding out about them and that he’s mad at her and Alex tells her he found out because she talked about it in therapy. First of all, I like how this sets up a future scene between Alex and Conrado where you KNOW he’s gonna try to slut-shame Verónica like, “I don’t know what she told you but she always does that to get people into bed with her” or something and it will backfire spectacularly on him with Alex no doubt defending her and perhaps even getting mad at him for treating Verónica like that. CANNOT WAIT. And secondly, the way Verónica LOOKS at Alex while saying “You went to therapy... to talk about how we kissed a couple of times?” I’m--

She’s just SO AMUSED bless her little heart. Again, I thought she’d get mad at Alex for divulging her intimacy like that, but I should probably know Verónica better by now. The fact that she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what people think of her is what makes her such a compelling character.

Alex being like, “I went to therapy to talk about how I kissed my husband’s mistress, yeah”, basically like “What of it?”, and then ADMITTING SHE LIKED IT!!!!!!! What I loved, though, was the matter-of-fact way she says it. It wasn’t a grand, sweeping love declaration, nor was she expecting Verónica to reciprocate or respond to it in any way. She was just explaining why she went to therapy to talk about it. IDK I just found it so refreshing that she’s basically admitting to feeling more than friendship towards Verónica and it’s not weird or anything anymore because they’re way past that. Also, I liked getting confirmation that nothing happened beyond kissing. I strongly suspected it just from the way it was shot, but I’m glad I don’t have to wonder anymore. This also means I still have their first time having sex to look forward to. We just keep winning!!!

“Maybe you’re a lesbian.” “I hope so! At least I’d have ONE thing clear!” I’M SCREAMINGGGGGG. But also, I like how this implies that kissing Alex wasn’t something new to Verónica or something she lost any sleep over. Like she only talks about redefining oneself post-makeout in the second person, like Alex is the only one who needs to change the way she sees herself after realizing she enjoyed kissing another woman. Ever since she told “Martina” early in season 1 that she’d slept with a lot of “people,” I figured she was bisexual, so I’m taking this as confirmation just because I can.

ANYWAY, like I said, I needed to be intense about this episode. There was just SO MUCH to unpack and I don’t feel like I even put all my thoughts on here, but this is still quite enough, lol. TL;DR I was afraid the show would build on the reveals of the season 1 finale in a direction I wouldn’t like and that would ruin my enjoyment of this season (having Alex and Verónica take until at least episode 4 to become friends again and perhaps even later to start working together to solve Óscar’s murder, let alone start inching towards a romantic relationship or, worst case scenario, a time jump in which I’d miss the immediate confrontation between them and Alex trying to win Verónica back) but, instead, they gave me everything I wanted already in episode 1, including something I didn’t know I wanted, which is putting them in a place where they’re really close but still very much in the friend zone such that I didn’t miss the moment their relationship shifted into romantic territory and, best of all, I’ll still probably get to see a few moments of sexual tension (like that amazing scene with Alex being unable to sleep) until that finally happens.

UGH, THIS SHOW. Very, very few times have I been so satisfied with a single episode of television and the decisions made to resolve a cliffhanger. Usually, even when the writers give me what I want or my ship gets together, there’s still something I would have done differently or that the show missed and I didn’t get to see, but not here. I can’t think of a single thing that I would add or change because I was hoping I’d see it but it wasn’t shown. Like on the one hand, this is good because it means that I’m less stressed about the upcoming episodes and I’m content to just watch everything play out because I already got to see everything I wanted between these two in terms of a resolution to last season’s cliffhanger and there’s nothing I’m worried we won’t be shown. But, on the other hand, that just probably means it will all be downhill from here, LMAO.

#thoughts no one cares about #lord I haven't written a thesis on an episode of a show I watch in YEARS this is probably a good thing #I'm slowly getting back my will to live

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cadysu · 7 years

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tell me about your kokuyo gang headcanons pls and thanks

Let us talk about my children the Kokuyo Gang aka Mukuro, Ken, Chikusa, M.M., and the rest but not Chrome because Chrome is a member of the Vongola Family and was kicked out. :^) EDIT: NO FRAN BECAUSE THIS POST GOT TOO LONG GOMEN. I’m going to do a paragraph or so segment for each character I think with some canon facts mixed into headcanon so have FUN!

Mukuro- Mukuro has a lot of canon info already so this is gonna be on the shorter part. Mukuro is a little shit kjasnd Mukuro enjoys reading of all types- from picking up a magazine to novels. He is also very spiritual- yes his powers have ties to the levels of Hell, but I can see religion and belief systems being topics of interest for him. He’s extremely up to date on politics (less in a “wow politics is interesting” and more as a study of people. He watches to see the corruption, lies, and abuse of power. And let’s make it pretty damn clear that if he had nothing better to do/ there was no effort to it, Mukuro would 10000% be okay murdering those people in cold blood because he can. I feel like a lot of people forget Mukuro is a villain (antihero but still a villain too). On a less serious side of everything though- Mukuro can also be very laid back and playful. He pampers himself (spa day with M.M., glass of wine FRUIT COCKTAIL, video games with the rest of the gang, etc.) As serious and scary as he can come across, he is still a teenager. A teenager that is fully aware of how bad the world can be, but also in a bit of a chuuni-bubble where he feels this one man illusionist wrecking machine can take over everything and his only obstacle atm is the Vongola Family.

Also Mukuro strikes me as someone who would enjoy David Lynch movies. I mean I’m not projecting my love of Twin Peaks on him, but watching Twin Peaks made me think he’d enjoy it a fair amount. :T Or at least Fire Walk With Me.

Ken- SMELLY BOI. I love Ken. Ken may not be the smartest, but do not call him stupid! He just works things out differently. Ken can pick up on small things that many people miss due to his keen observation skills; his sense of smell, hearing, and vision are all heightened compared to a normal human being. He can almost “sniff” out illusions if they’re not very well done and he is a natural at catching someone in a lie. Ken canonically hates bathing but I can also see him being grubby in general- he doesn’t floss as much as he should or clean his ears, he has dirty nails, runs around barefoot a lot- stuff like that. Ken doesn’t eat his veggies either. He’s like that one tumblr post where Chikusa is the “Do you feel guilty when you dont eat vegetables/ only junk food for awhile and you need healthy food to feel better?” “Idk Kakipi I’ve only had soda and gushers for 3 days and I feel fine” “Ken...no...” That is Ken. Ken has a huge fear of doctors/dental offices in general, but I think one of the biggest things that he’s scared of is anesthesia and needles, even though these things are supposed to help. Seeing tanks of nitrous or the small plastic mask to go over one’s mouth and nose really drive up his anxiety. Only Chikusa and Mukuro can really calm him down and convince him everything will be okay. Even if the doctor is Verde/ someone he has developed a degree of trust, he still cannot control his PTSD. Ken hates wearing suits and he doesn’t really like getting new clothes either- not so much anything against new clothes, he just likes wearing the same smelly shirt 5 days out of the week if he can. Also, not a set in stone headcanon, but I can picture Ken being colorblind.

Chikusa- Chikusa is such an overlooked character aaah- Okay first off- Chikusa is not as smart as Mukuro, but smarter than Ken. He sometimes reads or peaks into the books that Mukuro is reading, and he does try to continue his education however way he can. There actually isn’t a subject he really dislikes, but Ken and M.M. tease him for still doing things like homework or reading the old textbooks they have despite none of them going to school. Chikusa is also one of the only few in the house to do chores: cleaning, cooking, making Ken take a bath, grocery shopping, etc. He can also do small sewing/stitches for mending holes and he learns small skills relatively quickly as long as they aren’t too complex. Despite his extreme loyalty to Mukuro and rarely seen without Ken tagging along, Chikusa is a very independent person. Introverted, but independent. He spends his time at home playing video games and listening to music, and when he needs to leave, he just goes out. Chikusa is a better functioning adult as a teenager than most adults LOL (minus the fact he has no bills to pay). Chikusa tries to save his allowance money but usually gives some to Ken for whatever small reason like a few extra tries in an arcade game, some junk food or comic, etc. He never brings it up or asks for money in return but sometimes sighs with reluctance. If he really doesn’t want to, he’ll say no, but there’s usually a reason (”Ken we need real groceries. I’m not eating gum for dinner.” “I need to replace my headphone cord” “I have a crack in my glasses” etc.) Opposite to Ken, Chikusa tries to have really good hygiene. The only thing that truly bothers him is that he can’t wash his hair as much as he’d like, but he covers it with his hat and possibly dry shampoo from M.M. if desperate.

Chikusa is ambidextrous. :v

ABOUT THE BARCODE- Okay so another person I rp’d with had the headcanon of Chikusa being a twin and the barcode being a way the Estraneo kept track of them, which I thought was fucking genius. Screencaps and manga scans show he didn’t have that tattoo as a kiddo/pre-Mukuro rampage, so technically it isn’t accurate, but it’s a thought nonetheless. I do consider the barcode a tattoo and not drawn on/temporary/birthmark/etc. I still like that idea as an honoring thing. Like if he had a twin who they marked but the twin died during an experiment so when they were out of there he did it as a we-will-never-be-apart thing.M.M. - MY DAUGHTERU. God M.M. is such a good character but people snub her because she’s a “bitch” and a woman (I say that because when Mammon is greedy it is cute but when M.M. is greedy she’s bad. Same with her attitude! If a male shounen character acted that way he’d be like, a princely type. So yeah I think a lot of M.M. hate comes from people who don’t respect women :T)

ANYWAYS I genuinely love the idea of M.M.’s name/design/background having a small reference to the book series of Madeline. PROBLEM HERE IS I HAVE TWO HEADCANON BACKGROUNDS FOR HER AND I LIKE BOTH SO HERE THEY ARE: I headcanon her real name as Madeline, and the she was sent off to a wealthy all girl’s boarding school as a child. She lost her parents at a very young age and inherited a small fortune, but had nowhere to go. She would stay and live in the boarding school until school was out, and then stay with an estranged relative during the breaks. However, she quickly started staying at “friends” homes instead as her limited family did not look after her or have any interest in her actual well being. THE OTHER VERSION VERY SIMILAR BUT INSTEAD OF BEING WEALTHY SHE WAS VERY POOR AND SENT TO A WEALTHY SCHOOL. The idea of her either being a poor young girl who got a taste of riches and fucking took it or the idea of a young girl who grew up wealthy but was surrounded by people who wanted what she got made her be a lot harder and did a fuck you all I’m M.M. and I get what I want. I love both those ideas and I can see them both working as a background. Both M.M.s’ see how the capitalism really runs the world and the main difference is one just had to work a little more to get rich while the other had less of a struggle but equal amount of determination. M.M. learned quickly that she was rather “pretty” to men and with money, she wouldn’t have to run to anyone or need help from anyone.

To earn money, she started as a small petty thief and moved on to grander schemes quickly. M.M. was a talented shoplifter and would pick up on things she could sell off to the girl’s in school, and then for the big money she knows how to blackmail people and get dirt on anyone. A cheap disposable camera and risky photos can ruin a person’s life. A little bit of alcohol is all it really takes for someone to make a horrible mistake. Also a lot of alcohol can make someone pass out and lose all the money in their wallet. Although she never liked the business, I can see M.M. knowing the fastest cash she could make would be to sell drugs to other girls. A little coke here and there. Think of that post making fun of the group of white boys vs. hipsters with the caption “Who would pay more for weed?” M.M. knows who and knows how to convince them “this is some really rare good stuff that I stole from my parents~ Yknow it’s imported from Amsterdam~” or “Hey I heard you want to lose weight, yknow I know how you can be the thinnest girl in school~” M.M. is resourceful and cunning and she can and will prey on someone’s insecurities for money. M.M. has been arrested and does have a mugshot, but this was in the beginning of her thieving days and she was released later that night. She also may or may not have tried to seduce her guard(s). Also despite her flirting and knowing what she CAN do, she has never gone into sex work. She hasn’t met a man or woman who can afford her. She’s a virgin but she’ll lie about it/ leave it ambiguous just to see what pays more. :T

Now a lot of this all applies to her before she joined the Kokuyo gang. Mukuro had heard about M.M. when seeing her mugshot in a trashy gossip magazine. A young, pretty and precocious teenage girl with a natural talent of stealing? No family really known/ totally independent? Why not try and get her in your growing gang of misfits. She was hesitant at first, but Mukuro, in Verde’s own words, is extremely charismatic. Plus she finds him cute and really saw promise in his plans. She hates Kokuyo Land because of how dirty it is, and actually bothered to have her part of the hideout remodeled for her liking (a nice bed, a vanity in her room, a throw rug over the damaged floorboards, etc.) She managed to turn abandoned and run down into “shabby chic” but she’s hoping she can get it to a more Versailles tier one day.

Not to bring up Twin Peaks again but after watching it I definitely get Audrey Horne vibes out of M.M.

M.M. has the highest education of the Kokuyo Gang and has actually has a very good understanding of chemistry. Her main passion though is music and she genuinely loves to play her clarinet in her room for fun.

OTHER CHARACTERS!:

FUN “FACTS”:

M.M. is a Sephora VIB Rouge member and makes fun of people who have to shop at Ulta (except she does shop at Ulta when no one is looking.)

Each member of the Kokuyo Gang has a preferred fighting video game and main. (SIDE NOTE: I don’t play enough fighting games to be familiar with every character’s play styles in all games so these ideas can easily change) Mukuro- Mortal Kombat (I only played MK1 for genesis and MKX which I suck at but I can see him playing Scorpion and beating up Johnny Cage repeatedly), Ken- Tekken and probably mains Kuma (Ken can definitely tap the buttons fast enough for those combos), Chikusa- Street Fighter as Ryu/ he keeps things very classic (But usually he plays whatever Ken wants to play, so I can see him maybe playing a lot of Yoshimitsu), and M.M. is Soul Calibur as Ivy, who is definitely 100% not overpowered. Also Fran plays Smash bros. and he’s probably a Mewtwo spamming lil shit. Or Metaknight.

Chikusa’s likes to go inside Tower Records and Mandarake stores, but rarely buys anything because of his limited finances.

They didn’t have cable until Verde moved in and would sometimes watch daytime television. Local news, daytime soaps, public tv anime, etc. Sometimes they rent videos for a night at home, or sneak into movie theaters with a little illusion help.

NONE OF THEM HAVE GONE TO A DOCTOR OR DENTIST (except M.M. and Fran when he was at his granny’s) because of their past trauma. When Team Verde was formed, Verde did a health assessment but has been unsuccessful at making any of them see a dentist. Especially Ken- but Ken does take better care of his channels.

i have so much more to type but oh fuck i went on sorry chi jkdsfnaksdfn

#lONG POST #astrasia

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ifuckekureto · 7 years

Text

ch 56

I should probably wait until I have more energy to write this so that it’s coherent, but whatever, let’s just dive in!

First of all: AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Second of all: Seishiro still hasn’t appeared yet. #freeseishiro2k17

Moving on...

So Guren and Yuu are reunited!! Tbh after waiting a month for each chapter to come out (which is totally fine, I understand that writing/drawing manga takes a lot of work!), the reunion wasn’t a big deal for me. And Guren of course did the classic “let me just drop in and say hi casually after being gone for a really long time under concerning circumstances.”

Speaking of Guren... Well, I mentioned in an earlier post that I think Mahiru was using literal language when saying that Guren’s squad would fall apart if they found out they had died and been resurrected. With that being the case, that’s probably why Guren knocked them out. But I will say, I am a teensy bit tired of that constantly happening to them because they’re really cool fighters and they get shortchanged a lot by getting knocked out all the time in the LNs and now here. I don’t think I can complain too much since they’re only minor characters, and Shinoa’s squad is definitely supposed to be the focus of the manga. I think my greater interest in Guren’s squad is due to the fact that I’m closer in age to them and can relate a bit more, if that makes sense. And their character designs are just 👌 👌 👌 amazing. I’m also probably just salty that they only have 2 years left to live... The only things that could help them are probably just as bad as the Seraph of the End. RIP minor characters.

AND MAHIRU ASKLASJASAKSKAS There was a lot of interesting stuff about her in chapters 54 & 55, but ngl I don’t feel like recapping what is probably already obvious to you. Anyways, I LOVE that Byakkomaru is looking out for Shinya because that was one of my headcanons and :’) Because it’s a demon, the concern is probably more related to Byakkomaru’s own well-being but :’) It’s nice to see something I can extrapolate from... lol... BUT MAHIRU! Okay, I’m not really in touch with the ONS fandom, but I get the impression that the MikaYuu vs YuuNoa ship war is a particularly vicious one... I honestly think both are fun, and I don’t really like to talk about ships on this blog anyway. But since I’m talking about chapter 56 in particular, I will say that the parallels between GureMahi and YuuNoa are very interesting, especially when Mahiru talks about lust and demons because I’m like YES I’M THIRSTY TOO BINCH!! Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy, if Mahiru somehow influences Shikama Doji (Shinoa’s demon) to awaken and capitalize on Shinoa’s apparent desire for Yuu... That would be very interesting! Of course, everyone is in love with Yuu and each other so who knows what will happen ;)

AND NOW KURETO AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA So what was interesting to me was that Guren said that someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes for the entire Hiiragi family, and not just Kureto... So Tenri might be under the influence of something too. Based on the emphasis in the LNs of Kureto thinking about the legends of the founder of the Hiiragi clan, I can’t help but think it’s related. But also shoutout to @borntobeafangirlxd because they literally called the Saito-Tenri connection a longggggggg time ago!! I don’t remember if Saito’s chains have been shown in the manga in any of his brief appearances, but they were definitely there in the LNs. And it seems to me that the chains that came out of Tenri are the same kind of thing. On a sidenote, remember the weird chains that burst from the truck to pierce the soldiers for the activation of the Seraph of the End? I wonder if they are related, but I’m not sure that they would be. I guess we’ll find out. But wowie wow wow Kureto said Tenri is no longer human... and he’s worried that he doesn’t have the strength to beat him... Which reminds me, that moment with Aoi was so sweet :3c And his expressions of worry made for some very good manga screencaps (though I’m hesitant to do anything with them at the moment until I get some permissions). Anyways, Saito and Tenri at the very least are aware of the other’s existence because if Tenri was manipulating Mahiru to interact with Saito, then he would definitely know who Saito is. Not to mention that they literally said that Tenri has confirmed connections with the vampires which is just crazy since he engineered the Seraph of the End!! Maybe he has contact with Krul though Mahiru since they are both interested in it. Or Saito. So is Saito the one that Guren was referring to when he said that someone is pulling the strings? Or is it someone like the 1st progenitor? Or the Hiiragi ancestor? Or some demon? If I knew more about Tenri, I could probably come up with something better than aimless speculation. I think Kagami will write an 8th LN, and that may answer some questions about Tenri’s cybernetics.

But also I’m genuinely afraid Kureto could die. I didn’t really ever think that both Kureto and Guren would make it to the end of the manga with a happy ending, but this scary. If Tenri is like Saito, then I’m not sure if Kureto stands a chance unless he obtains more power from his demon... which is always risky... not to mention that the LNs revealed that using Raimeiki literally destroys his muscles (which must be absolutely excruciating). Of course, the curse allows them to regenerate quickly... only to be destroyed again... Anyways, in the LNs, sometimes Guren was able to get the jump on Saito even before he obtained Mahiru/Noya, but there seems to be an implication that Saito’s current state is beyond even the vampires. I know the vampire LNs don’t really talk about Saito, but I still want to read them for any scrap of information they can offer about this. Anyways, if Saito is beyond a vampire and Tenri is like Saito... Kureto may not really stand a chance if he wants a fight to the death. Maybe if he let Seishiro out, he could get some help!!!! Not even sure what Seishiro could do here, but he needs to let out soon :’( Or maybe Kureto locked him up to protect Seishiro from this battle... but... that’s probably a bit too altruistic haha rip... Interestingly, Kureto isn’t really an impulsive guy, but he consistently throws himself into these life-or-death situations. In the LNs, he goaded Guren to strike him even though he knew Guren’s demon could drive him to deliver a fatal blow, he stepped up to negotiate with a group of vampires for the lives of 200 soldiers he was leading when a raid on the Hyakuya Sect went wrong, he fought Mahiru even though she was way way way way way more powerful (part of this attack was an illusion, but he did attempt to directly confront her). In the anime, after Yuu destroyed Abaddon, he charged at Yuu and crossed blades with him... like, dude... what makes you think you can win... though because this didn’t happen in the manga, I’m a bit hesitant to consider it as an example of the behavior I’m talking about. But the point is, Kureto is constantly doing stuff like this, and out of all the situations he’s been in, this one is by far the deadliest... Like I would not be surprised if he’s killed or severely maimed in the coming chapters. Then again, maybe he’ll retreat? Which... he doesn’t seem like he wants to do since it sounds like he thinks this is the best opportunity to take down Tenri. Kureto... :’( Seeing as he’s important to the plot, he may very well make it out alive. But I’m still nervous for him :’( And I know that the ending of the anime showed Kureto and Guren wearing the same kind of coat that Tenri has which implies a successful coup, but I wonder if it really is that simple... I don’t know much about military uniforms (especially Japanese military dress uniforms imbued with protective talismans lol), but maybe the coat just signifies who the presiding commanders are? Like I think Guren and Kureto were in Sanguinem in that scene, so that could just be a reference to the successful invasion of Sanguinem (which I hope they talk about a little more). I just don’t think the coup would be that simple since Tenri appears to have connections to whoever might be the real bad guy of the series. I hope they don’t mind me mentioning them, but I saw @lightmaycry say on another social media website that it would be really sad if Tenri was under the influence of this malevolent force and dies in the confrontation with Kureto, but is finally freed of it and says something nice to Kureto :’l That would be pretty sad :’l And it goes along with theories proposed by both @borntobeafangirlxd and@ @aph-tokyo-london (idk why the tag isn’t working for your url). I hope they don’t mind me mentioning them... Let me know if you do mind, and I will remove these parts. I will totally admit that I’m a bit biased against Tenri, but I’m open to something like this happening. Bring me the angst :’l

But where is Seishiro??? I feel like he should be appearing soon since focus is being drawn back to the JIDA... It would be really nice to know what he thinks about all of these things... I think he has been kept in the dark when it comes to some of the Seraph stuff, but I also think he can put a few of the pieces together himself. He simply may not want to because the truth would be really hard to deal with, and I think Seishiro lived in denial for as long as he could until he got a nasty wake-up call from Kureto that said yes, there is something really crazy going on here and yes, it has to do with our family!

#freeseishiro2k17

#freeseishiro2k17 #ch 56 #there are ch 56 spoilers and light novel spoilers in here so be warned #also i know the text on my blog's theme is kinda small so one day i may change it to something bigger if i can figure it out #kurethoughts #if you read the whole thing congratulations lol and thanks for paying attention to my rambles #i hope some of you dont mind being tagged in here but i wanted to give shoutouts to some kureto fandom ppl <3

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